If you are interested in history and culture, you can visit the burial ground at Långeruda in Småland. It is one of the largest and best preserved burial grounds from the Iron Age in the area. Here you can see different types of graves that tell about how people lived and died over 1000 years ago.
The burial ground is on a hill overlooking the countryside. It consists of seven tombs that have different shapes and sizes. Four of them are cairns, that is, large stone piles that cover the grave. Two of the cairns are round and two are square. The other three graves are stone embankments, i.e. flat surfaces with stones that mark the grave. One of the stone settings is round, one is three-sided and one is irregular.
One of the square cairns was excavated in the 1930s, but unfortunately someone had been there before and looted the grave. The only thing found was a human skull which showed that the deceased had been buried unburnt. It was unusual in the Iron Age, when most people buried their dead after burning them at the stake.
The burial ground at Långeruda gives us an insight into how people honored their relatives and ancestors during the Iron Age. It also shows that there were different ways of expressing one's identity and status through the grave condition. If you want to know more about the burial ground and other ancient remains nearby, you can visit Virserum's Hembygdspark where there is an exhibition about the history of the area.
